John 8: 12-18

John 8: 12-18 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid." Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

In our journey through John's gospel, we have viewed Christ from various perspectives as healer, provider, teacher, encourager, and the like. Some of the most powerful moments come during the days leading up to his arrest, crucifixion, resurrection, and the coming of the promised Holy Spirit. In his final words to the religious establishment, his closest followers, and the crowds that pressed in for a closer look or perhaps a touch from his hand, we see some of his most intense teachings and deepest thoughts. In today's passage, Christ speaks with such a logical approach that his most learned listeners, whether they admitted it or not, would have been amazed as we read in chapter seven and probably would have asked yet again, "How did this man get such learning without having studied?”

Jesus, a simple carpenter's son, was setting up the perfectly logical hypothesis: If, Then, Therefore; passed down from the Greeks to the Romans to our modern age. He says: If I testify on my own behalf, and I do; and my testimony is valid; and it is because I know where I came from and where I am going; even though I am not going to judge you, I could if I wanted to because I stand with my Father who sent me. Therefore, given who I am according to the requirements of the law: I have a position of authority confirmed by the testimony of two men. I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other. This might confuse you or me; however, no student of logic and no scholar of the law misunderstood his meaning that day. Jesus used every means at his disposal to wake up a wicked and a foolish people, to get their attention, and to wipe away their excuses. They were squandering their time with the Son of God, wasting an opportunity to listen to divine wisdom and the Word of Life. They stood in the presence of the Way, the Truth, and the Life while they questioned his authority, argued religion, ignored or explained away his miracles, made plans to trick or to him, and engaged in foolish agruments: "He is a good man?"

“No, he deceives the people.”

(John 7:12) “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid."

Christians become so easily distracted. Oh that we could reclaim the wasted hours. We might not question Christ's salvation plan, but we skip over some fairly clear statements from Jesus: But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. (Matthew 12:36) And we don't much like Paul's admonition: Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. (Ephesians 5:4) We view the same movies as our worldly friends, laugh at the same jokes, make the same snide comments about others, criticize with the abandon, snicker at rude remarks and maybe feel a little guilty. We want to be cool, need acceptance, seek to fit in. We don't want to feel different or be seen as one of those goofy Christians. A newly saved friend of ours said recently that he struggles so much with sharing his faith that he has problems not getting angry at his friends. All they have known all their lives is drinking, drugging, partying, and having sex with people they hardly know. Some of them even attend church, but if he tries to tell them there is a better way: a way of peace and happiness that pleases God, he is the one everyone comes down on and rejects for getting "all religious" when they know who he "really is." Jesus read the crowd around him, the intents and purposes of their hearts, yet He said, Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

(Appreciate your prayers for Dad's lower back and healing for me for PTSD. God is so good! Bless you all, Mom)